May 23rd, 2024
IF
made its theatrical debut last weekend and took in a respectable $33.72 million in its opening attempt, making it the top movie at the domestic box office. The John Krasinski-directed film was relegated to second place as the widest release, but will itself play spoiler to another newcomer as it becomes the widest-playing film in the land this week. Another trio of new films make their appearance this week, including another animated feature in the way of everyone’s favorite comic book cat, as
The Garfield Movie
makes its arrival into North American cinemas.
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May 16th, 2024
After a solid opening week at the box office for
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
, the latest primate venture rolls into its second week retaining its debut count of 4,075 theaters, making it once again the most widely-available film in North America. It outperformed most expectations by earning $58.4 million in its opening weekend, and currently enjoys a six-day total of $72.32 million. This week sees another trio of films arriving in wide release, one of which holds a good chance of toppling reigning box office title holder from its top spot.
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May 9th, 2024
The Fall Guy
began its theatrical run last weekend with a three-day haul of $27.75 million from 4,002 locations. While it didn’t meet most expectations, the lack of major contenders easily earned it a spot as the biggest movie of the week at the domestic box office. The Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt stuntman action-comedy will inevitably drop into second place this week as the latest from the
Planet of the Apes
franchise
arrives in theaters with the release of
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
.
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May 27th, 2021
After having only one wide release debut last week (
Bleecker Street
’s
Dream Horse
in 1,254 locations), this week we see the arrival of two highly-anticipated films. The widest release will be
Walt-Disney
’s
Cruella
, which tells the story of the infamous “Cruella de Vil” of 101 Dalmatians fame. The crime comedy starring Emma Stone as the title villainess opens in 3,892 theaters. Coming in second this week with 3,726 theaters is the release of
Paramount Pictures
’s
A Quiet Place: Part II
, returning Emily Blunt as Evelyn Abbott and helmed by off-screen husband John Krasinski. The original movie collected $335 million worldwide.
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March 1st, 2020
The box office had mixed results during
February
with
Birds of Prey
missing expectations by a huge margin, but
Sonic the Hedgehog
did well enough to almost make up the difference. This March, there are three films that will almost certainly reach $100 million domestically:
Onward
,
A Quiet Place: Part II
, and
Mulan
. In fact, all three at least have a slim shot at $200 million domestically. By comparison,
last March
Captain Marvel
was released, which earned more than $400 million, while
Us
and
Dumbo
earned close to $300 million combined. I don’t think the top three films this year will match last year’s top three, or even come particularly close, and I fear 2020 will fall behind 2019 in the year-over-year comparison. So much for that lead 2020 built up in January.
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January 10th, 2019
The
Writers Guild of America
has a lot of categories, as they hand out nearly 30 awards. However, only three of them are for theatrical releases. The list of nominees include several major Awards Season players and not a lot of surprises. There are some clear patterns emerging, but also some surprising results.
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July 23rd, 2018
A Quiet Place
was expected to be a box office hit, but very few people thought it would be this big a hit. It pulled in over $300 million on a budget of just $17 million. It had a very interesting hook, but is that all it had? Does it do something with the hook?
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April 1st, 2018
Well,
March
has ended and it was a very disappointing month.
Black Panther
made more than any of the new releases did. The only potential big hit that didn’t miss expectations was
Ready Player One
. Because of this, 2018 lost its lead over 2017 and is now over $100 million behind last year’s pace. April is usually a terrible month, because it is a dumping ground, especially late in the month. No studio wants to compete with the first monster hit of the Summer. This year, the first monster hit of the summer,
Avengers: Infinity War
, opens in April. It will make more during its opening weekend than any other April release will make in total. It might make more opening day than any other April release will make in total. The only film that has a real chance to earn more than $100 million is
Rampage
, a video game adaptation. Last
April
,
The Fate of the Furious
earned more than $1.2 billion worldwide, but “only” earned $225.76 million of that domestically.
Infinity War
should earn more than that opening weekend. The second biggest hit of last April was
Smurfs: The Lost Village
and
Going in Style
, both of which earned $45.02 million. If 2018 doesn’t retake the lead by the end of the month, then 2018 is in trouble at the box office.
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March 13th, 2018
Horror movie starring
Emily Blunt
and
John Krasinski
opens April 6 ...
Full Movie Details
.
A family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you.
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August 26th, 2016
While there are a lot of films on this week’s list, none of them look like they will be box office hits.
Southside with You
is one of the
best
releases this week, but it is playing in over 800 theaters, which is likely too many. There are a number of other films that are worth seeing, like
Floyd Norman: An Animated Life
, but most of them are playing on
Video on Demand
, so their box office chances are nearly zero.
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August 1st, 2016
Ensemble comedy directed by, and starring
John Krasinski
, with
Anna Kendrick
,
Sharlto Copley
,
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
,
Charlie Day
,
Margo Martindale
and
Richard Jenkins
opens August 26 ...
Full Movie Details
.
John Hollar, a struggling NYC artist is forced to navigate the small middle-American town he left behind when news of his mother's illness brings him home. Back in the house he grew up in, John is immediately swept up in the problems of his dysfunctional family, high-school rival and an over-eager ex-girlfriend as he faces impending fatherhood with his girlfriend in New York.
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January 1st, 2016
2016 will begin the same way
2015 ended
, with
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
on top. In fact, three of the five films that have the best shot at box office success in January are
The Force Awakens
,
The Hateful Eight
, and
The Revenant
, all of which opened in December. There are two true January releases that could also do really well, for this time of year:
Ride Along 2
and
Kung Fu Panda 3
. The rest of the releases are just hoping to become midlevel hits. Last
January
,
American Sniper
dominated earning more than $300 million. Its success could prevent 2016 from being ahead in the year-over-year comparison by the end of the month, but this year does have better depth.
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October 26th, 2013
Monsters Inc.
was a huge hit in 2001 earning close to $300 million domestically and more than $550 million worldwide. This summer, a prequel,
Monsters University
, came out and it earned a little less domestically, but more than $700 million worldwide. If you factor in inflation and the growth of international markets, this isn't as strong a run as the predecessor had, but still very profitable. Is the quality similar, i.e., not quite as strong as the original, but still worth checking out? And are any of the four releases worth picking up?
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January 1st, 2013
December
ended on a positive note with 2012 topping 2011 with a week to spare. Hopefully this will translate into strong box office numbers going forward. There are several January releases that actually look very interesting, but you always have to ask, if the films are as good as they look, why are they opening in January? The biggest hit on this list will likely not be a January release, but a limited release from December that is expanding wide in January.
Zero Dark Thirty
opened in limited release the Wednesday before Christmas and right away it got off to an incredible start. If it can turn some of its Awards Season nominations into wins, which seems very likely at this point, it should be the biggest hit of January. If it can earn some major Oscars, then it might crack $100 million. Unfortunately, no other film on this release list is likely to come close to the $100 million mark. Last
January
was unseasonably strong with three films opening with $20 million or more and four films finishing with $50 million or more. It is possible that none of the new releases will reach those relatively weak standards.
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December 28th, 2012
The end of the year has a few limited releases trying to get a last chance for Oscar glory with Oscar qualifying runs.
Promised Land
is clearly the biggest film of the week, but its
reviews
suggest it won't even thrive in limited release.
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October 19th, 2012
It's a slower week for limited releases, but there are a couple that are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Holy Motors
is one of them, but while it should do well in art house theaters, its chances at mainstream success is a lot more limited.
The Sessions
reviews are even better and it has a lot more mainstream appeal. It is never easy for a limited release, but of all of the film's on this week's list, this one has the best shot at the box office.
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